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All the numbers point to British Columbia as the epicentre of a global boom in mineral exploration and mine development.

We are a mining country. Minerals account for 23 per cent of Canada’s goods exports. Almost 60 per cent of the world’s publicly traded mining companies have their primary listing on either the Toronto Stock Exchange or the TSX Venture (junior company) exchange. The majority have their head office in B.C. Nearly half are managing mineral projects outside of Canada. They attracted 70 per cent of the equity capital raised globally for mining companies in 2012.

There is plenty of focus on projects within Canada, too. This is the world’s most popular country for mining investors – 18 per cent of global mining investment in 2011 came here, according to the Mining Association of Canada. From 2002 to 2011, amid the best mining commodity boom in decades, exploration spending aimed at finding and scoping out potential new mines grew almost seven-fold.

Last year, B.C. attracted a record $680 million in mineral exploration, an increase of 47 per cent over the previous best year, $462 million in 2011.

Total direct employment in the mining sector, according to BC Stats, was 14,100 in 2012. That’s projected to grow to 16,770 by 2023. Average annual pay exceeds $115,000 per employee.

By dollar value, mining runs second only to forestry for export value to the provincial economy. It accounts for about three per cent of annual provincial gross domestic product (GDP). The value of exports of coal, copper and other metals and minerals reached $9.1 billion in 2012 after a record $10.6 billion in 2011.

In a recent presentation to the Kamloops Exploration Group, Pierre Gratton, president of the Mining Association of B.C., said it was the “depth and breadth of our mining industry that has enabled Canada to weather the recent economic turmoil better than any other G-8 country.”

Gratton said the effects of a globalized economy and the rapid development of China have given rise to a mining ‘super cycle’ which presents both huge opportunities and huge challenges for Canada in the decades ahead.

Challenges include ‘resource nationalism’ and community protests “as societies struggle with how best to handle and distribute a growing amount of mineral wealth.” As well, increased demand for mining engineers, geologists, trades and skilled workers is creating “fierce” global competition for workers.

Meanwhile, Gratton said, the next 20 years will see “a doubling of demand for most mineral products. The pace of this growth will be checked from time to time ... but it will not materially shift from its axis.”

He added that B.C. is an important part of this growth. In particular, Gratton expects to see Kamloops, already a regional mining hub, growing into a major Canadian hub for both direct mining activity and supply and service to the industry.

That would complement Vancouver’s existing role as the global centre for mineral exploration and mine financing. Out of 1,673 publicly traded Canadian mining companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture boards, 959 were B.C.-based according to January 2013 data from the TMX Group. That includes 117 on the TSX and 842 on the TSX Venture.

“That really demonstrates, I believe, the scope of our industry based here in Vancouver,” Gavin Dirom, president and CEO of the Association for Mineral Explorers British Columbia (AME BC) said in an interview.

“With all respect, we’re not a forestry town. We’re a mining and exploration city.”

It begins with people working for mining companies but then spins out to finance and banking, technology and science, law, academia, and government. included in those sectors is the largest concentration of geoscientists in the world, plus environmental and biological scientists, consultants, accountants, stock market analysts, financiers and post-secondary educators.

“This industry has grown to world-class standards and it is constantly getting nurtured. I think it’s quite a success story,” Dirom said. “Hopefully, one day we’ll talk to the average person on the street in Vancouver and we’ll ask, ‘Did you know we’re the mineral exploration and development capital of the world?’ and they’ll say, ‘Oh yeah’ as if it’s common knowledge,” he added.

“We don’t think of the accounting firms as being part of the mining sector,” said Rob Stevens, BCIT’s associate dean of natural resources and a former chair of the mineral explorers association. “But the reality is that for some smaller firms in a city like Vancouver, that would be all of their business. For even the larger firms, mining is a significant portion of their business.”

For a decade, Stevens has been offering a short course on mineral exploration and mining for business people with no background in the sector. To complement that program, he self-published in 2011 a book, Mineral Exploration and Mining Essentials, that has already sold 4,000 copies.

“So who do I see in that group? A lot of accountants, lawyers, business professionals who are (new) directors of (mining) companies. I see a lot of the investment world, brokers, fund managers, an increasing number of people who are trying to connect with Asian investors around exploration and mining.

“I see the service and supply sector as well, which can include people selling field gear for exploration and mining companies, transportation, web solutions, all of that kind of thing.

“They want to understand some of the language, to understand the various parts of the industry.”

BCIT is also developing a program to bridge a traditional knowledge gap between geologists and mining engineers. For example, if you need to determine the grade of a mineral deposit you need the skills of a geologist — but it takes a mining engineer to work out the logistics of exploiting the resource.

Beginning in September 2015, BCIT hopes to offer a unique two-year program to graduates of its existing two-year mining technology program who want a more balanced skill set.

“Right now those professions are really quite siloed across the country and yet they are the two key technical professions that support exploration and mining,” Stevens said. “And it’s consistent with the technology program we have.

We have great feedback from industry on it. They’re very excited about this.”

In less than a week, Abbotsford recording artists Hedley went from touring Canada with two supporting acts and a popular new album to pariahs ensnared in allegations of sexual misconduct. On Monday, accusations that band members Jacob Hoggard, Dave Rosin, Tommy Mac and Jay Benison had engaged in sexual behaviour with teenage girls surfaced on Twitter […]

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